Nanostructured and nanoscale devices and sensors

The dimensionality of a system has a profound influence on its physical behaviour, more specifically for nanostructured materials in which the size is comparable to the size of the fundamental physical quantities. Carbon based nanostructured materials exhibit unique mechanical, electrical, and optical characteristics, which may result in many unique device designs. The materials are biocompatible, chemically inert but capable of altering their electronic properties in the presence of some chemical species, and dimensionally compatible with biomolecules. They have interesting electronic characteristics, hence rendering them as potential chemical and biosensors. Recent heightened awareness of the potential for inadvertent or deliberate contamination of the environment, food and agricultural products has made decentralized sensing an important issue for several federal agencies. Recent progress in nanostructured materials and their possible applications in chemical and biological sensors could have a significant impact on data collection, processing, and recognition. Our present and ongoing investigation is aimed towards evaluating the applications of nanostructures of carbon and other materials in unique devices and sensors. Field emission in carbon nanotubes is used to detect environmental emission and atomic force microscopy and surface plasmon resonance are used for the detection of Ecoli O157:H7 immobilized on layers of nanoparticles. Such devices display unique characteristics, morphological flexibility and biocompatibility.